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Photograph of Pete Lake in Washington State with the sun about to go down behind the mountains.

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Amputee Outdoors isn't just for amputees, any lover of hiking, backpacking and camping will find value in this site.  But, if you are an amputee, I hope the videos, advice, and gear reviews educate and inspire you to enjoy the beauty of nature. The goal here is to create inclusive outdoor experiences for everyone. 

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And of course, don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Amputee Outdoors to see all my adventures, tips and tricks, and reviews. Thanks for visiting!

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OK, let's first start with why Poo Poo Point has such a memorable name. According to one of the hiking guidebooks written by the late hiking and environmental advocate Harvey Manning, the name comes from the logging industry about a century ago.

Loggers used whistles to communicate from the logging tower operator to the workers down the hill. According to the Issaquah Historical Society, the whistle would be a signal that two logs were tied to a cable, ready to be towed.


So there you have it. If you had some other more juvenile idea in mind as to the origins of the name, well that's you.


Poo Poo Point is just outside Issaquah, WA., and is one of the most popular hiking trails in the Seattle area. This means that if you want a parking spot at the trailhead, get there early! It's also where paragliders and hang-gliders take off from. Not during the winter, but in the summer months they are almost constant and a lot of fun to watch.


I arrived at the Chirico Trail trailhead at 8 am, crossed the field where the gliders land, and started the ascent. The Chirico trail is only 3.8 miles, roundtrip, so it's short enough to do and get back in time for lunch if you start early enough. You're going to gain 1,760 feet in 1.9 miles and get to a total elevation of 1,850 feet.


The trail is very well maintained, although there are a couple of locations where folks have created a shortcut. Please don't use these as they cause erosion of the trail which is bad for everyone.


About halfway up, the lengths of trail that were covered in snow/ice pack started to get longer and slippery so I took a break and strapped on my crampons. I strongly recommend bringing crampons for any hike in the mountains between November and April.


I took my time on the hike, filming segments for Amputee Outdoors, so I didn't reach the summit until about 11:30 am. Once there I was pleased to find Mt. Baker to the north was not just visible, but clearly so.


I set up my hammock, got out my flask of hot chocolate (always tastes better when it's been snowing), and my lunch.




Relaxing there for about an hour I watched other hikers come and go, all marveling at the view.


The weather started to change around 12:30 pm so I packed up and started down the hill. Good thing too as the clouds moved in and it started snowing. I saw a lot of slide tracks on the trail where folks without crampons had slipped and slid down the hill. Hopefully, they didn't injure themselves.


Poo Poo Point is hikable just about all year round, but only if you have the right gear. If you plan on going up there this winter, please make sure to have crampons and later in the winter, snow shoes.


See you out there!



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I've read two news stories in the last week about folks that died on the trail due to exposure or hypothermia. While the news stories didn't go into detail about the gear they were carrying, it's a fair bet they were not properly equipped for the rapid drops in temperature we see this time of the year. This is especially true in the mountains where micro-weather patterns can occur.


If you saw my latest video (Mason Lake Solo Camp) you'll notice I'm carrying 45lbs of gear on a 3.5-mile hike to a lake where there was little to no snow and sunny weather all day with a weather prediction for sunny weather the next day. The hike was just an overnighter. Why 45 lbs on an overnighter? Because I assumed the weather would go sideways on me. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.


I carry with me one of those $4 emergency blankets, along with an emergency shelter made of Mylar. There's one more pair of wool socks than I need in the pack, and a puffy, insulating jacket. Shoved in the bottom of the backpack is a pair of ski gloves. None of that stuff was used in my last overnighter. That doesn't matter. What matters is that if the clouds moved in, the temperature dropped another 10 degrees and the rain started falling or it started snowing, I would have the gear needed to get through it.


If I sound preachy in this blog post, it's because that's what I'm trying to do. Preach preparedness.

I was surprised when I got to the Ira Spring trailhead parking lot. I arrived at 8 AM and had expected only a partially filled lot but found it was nearly packed with only a couple of spaces available. The fact that the day was literally cloudless and the sky was that shade of blue that inspired Perry Como had a lot to do with it.



Strapping on my 45lbs backpack, (hiking the Cascades above 3,000ft this time of the year you tend to have a lot more gear) I started out. I had on an out layer which didn't make it half a mile before it was strapped to the pack. The sun was blinding and with that much weight I was really heating up. As the trail changed from an easy incline to switchbacks there appeared snow/ice patches more and more frequently. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have put on my crampons a lot sooner.



With all the traffic on the trail, you would have thought you were on I405 at rush hour. That was fine by me as I met a lot of really friendly folks and enjoyed conversations with folks that were just as happy as I was to be on the trail. Some were very experienced, some not so experienced, but all enthralled by the views of the mountains and especially Mt. Rainier.


I made it to Mason Lake around lunch time and after a quick bite to eat, set up my hammock and rainfly. The sun was shining, the hammock was inviting so I relaxed and took a nap for an hour. Why not?


As the sun started moving closer to the edge of the mountains I decided to get busy with setting up for the night. I found a flat rock, moved it over to my camp site and with a few twigs built a little fire on it to keep warm. The wind was really picking up so I got creative with some paracord and my ground tarp to make a wind break. For the most part it worked but as the evening wore on, the wind became stronger and started to blow the embers of my little fire all over the place. It was time for bed. I shoveled a load of snow onto the fire to put it out and crawled into my hammock expecting to get a good night's sleep. Nope.


The wind kept blowing harder and harder. Twice I had to get up and adjust or fix my rainfly which was being battered badly by the wind. The noise was a little un-nerving and I could hear my hammock straps vibrating in the wind. Finally, about 2am the wind abated and I was able to drift off to sleep.



The morning was worth it. Mason Lake was a perfect mirror of the mountains surrounding it and honestly took my breath away. I cleaned up the campsite and took down the wind break I'd put up. It was partially taken down by the wind anyway and then cooked up some porridge and a cup of tea. The lake was enchanting and I lingered over breakfast and delayed breaking camp for a while just enjoying the views.

Finally breaking camp, I got packed up, did a last walk around to make sure there was nothing left from my visit and headed back down the trail. Despite the scary night, this was a great overnighter.

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